‘Happy Death Day’s Christopher Landon Will Direct A New Horror Film For Blumhouse
TheHappy Death Dayfranchiseis deadunless a service like Netflix comes along to fund a third entry, but that’s not going to keep directorChristopher Landondown. The filmmaker, who directed the firstHappy Death Dayand both wrote and directed its sequel, is now developing a new horror movie to direct at Blumhouse, the low budget/high control production company where he’s worked extensively over the past decade. Here’s what we know about his mysterious new project.
Discussing Filmbroke the news that Landon was working on a new movie for Blumhouse, andBloody-Disgustingconfirmed that initial report. Discussing Film describes the project like this: “Plot details are vague but sources say that it will focus on a killer who wreaks havoc in a small town.” Vague, indeed – that’s such a simple premise that it could be a back-to-basics,Halloween-style slasher film, or it could be hiding another high concept, likeHappy Death Day’sGroundhog Day-esque approach to its storytelling.
Landon wrote the 2007 movieDisturbia, the enjoyableRear Windowriff starring Shia LaBeouf, and he made his feature directorial debut a few years later with a little-talked-about indie movie calledBurning Palms, an obnoxiously provocative film I found to be utterly despicable in every way. But after that, he became one of the key voices behind Blumhouse’s mega-successfulParanormal Activityfranchise, writing the second, third, and fourth movies before writing and directingParanormal Activity: The Marked Ones. Credit where it’s due: those earlyParanormalmovies are a lot of fun, largely thanks to the way Landon crafted their interconnected mythologies and expanded on what could have been a one-and-done concept.
Landon then wrote and directed the forgettableScouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, wrote the Emma Roberts/Dave Franco social media thrillerViral(which reunited him withParanormal Activity 3& 4 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman), and finally graduated to a beloved franchise of his own with theHappy Death Daymovies. If he’s able to bring the same sense of freshness to whatever this mysterious new horror project is, we’ll be thrilled – and if he can either find a main role forHappy Death DaystarJessica Rotheor give some other up-and-comer an opportunity to make just as much of a splash as she did in those films, we’ll be even more thrilled.
